


Dear Future Husband

by honestgrins



Series: Round and Round [2]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, klaroline infinity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-09-28 12:58:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10101779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honestgrins/pseuds/honestgrins
Summary: Day 2 - Pre-canon: Thirteen was an ugly age for Caroline: braces, frizzy hair, her parents' bitter divorce. But there was a part of her that knew she was destined for more, and she kept her hopes high. She probably shouldn't have put them in writing, though…





	

"Caroline!"

She squeezed her knees tighter to her chest, digging her bright orange nails into the skin of her palms. Maybe it was babyish to hide in her parents' closet, but she didn't want to go outside. Instead, she cowered in the dark and recently half-emptied closet, waiting for her mother to track her down.

Damn those cop instincts.

The door slid open, and Liz poked her head inside. "Sweetie," she said in that sternly sweet voice. "It's time to say goodbye."

"No." Caroline hated the tears burning in her eyes; she wished she would never cry again. "I shouldn't have to say goodbye because he shouldn't be leaving."

"Your father is waiting."

Liz reached out a hand, which Caroline reluctantly accepted. "He can wait forever," she muttered.

"He already has," Liz answered sadly, in that voice adults use when they don't want the kids to understand. "Come on, you'll regret not giving him a hug."

Shaking her head, all the anger in Caroline's chest wanted to burst out. "No!" She pushed past her mother to run out of the room, then the house altogether; she made sure to use the side door to avoid where Bill Forbes and his packed car waited out front.

As fast as she could, Caroline ran to Bonnie's house. Her pigtails whipped behind her the whole way. Out of breath, she knocked on the door in a rush until someone answered. "Grams!"

Sheila took in the bright red face, swollen with tears. "Come on in, child," she said in understanding. "Bonnie's in her room."

"Thanks," Caroline nodded frantically, not even caring about the accidental lisp caused by her braces. Usually a terrible insecurity, she had bigger issues to deal with at that moment.

Bonnie held her as she cried, choking out a detailed explanation of each piece of clothing her dad had packed and the way her mom looked pinched as she watched from the corner of their bedroom. She sobbed at the sheer loneliness of her house now that one-third of its occupants would be disappearing.

"He's just going to Georgia," Bonnie tried to comfort her. "You'll still be able to visit, to see him."

"I know." And Caroline did know, it wasn't like Bonnie and her mom - and god, did she feel like a bitch for making her best friend deal with her emotional freak-out. "How stupid is that? I don't want to see my dad because soon I won't get to see him all the time."

Laughing, Bonnie hugged her more tightly. "Pretty stupid."

"And my mom, ugh," Caroline groaned. "How do you get married to someone so completely wrong for you without knowing?"

"Maybe she did know," Bonnie shrugged. "Or maybe she's as sad as you are right now."

"I'm not sad." Wiping her eyes, Caroline sat up as her thoughts collided into realization. "I'm scared. If my dad can leave my mom, me, what's going to stop my future husband from leaving, too?"

Familiar with the beginnings of a Caroline Forbes panic spiral, Bonnie fell back on a tried and true method of dealing with it. "Want to make a list?" she asked, reaching for a pad of paper. "You like lists. We can write down everything you want in a husband, then you can make sure you find the perfect guy for you."

Mulishly, Caroline wiped away her tears. "Actually attracted to me should be number one," she muttered.

"Fine." Bonnie wrote it down with a flourish. "I'm assuming he should also be hot."

"Incredibly so," Caroline laughed. "Rich and powerful would be a nice touch."

"But only if lets you boss him around."

"And buys me pretty things."

"Just because he was thinking of you."

Caroline sighed. "These guys don't exist in Mystic Falls."

"We're thirteen," Bonnie pointed out. "Who knows who'll turn up before we leave for college?"

"Somewhere fabulous, where we never have to think about this tragic small town ever again."

Tragic was the only word for it. Even as she thought about what that really meant, her father was probably crossing the town line without bothering to look back. There was nothing to keep him there, not when there was something better out in the world. If he could have that, why couldn't she?

Laying back on the bed, Caroline stared at Bonnie's ceiling as she dreamed of a future she didn't believe could ever happen. "If only…"

* * *

"I don't know, love," Klaus whispered against her shoulder as he stared at the decades-old list in Bonnie's handwriting. "I think you managed to capture my personality perfectly all those years ago."

Caroline pushed back playfully. "We're not married," she said. "And you're not that hot."

Klaus flipped her to her stomach, laying his body down the line of her back so he could whisper into her ear. "That's not what you said this morning."

"This morning, Kol hadn't slipped that noted under our door." She fought a moan as his hand stroked up her leg. "I'll never understand how Bonnie puts up with him, or how we let them tag along on our trip to Amsterdam."

Chuckling, Klaus rolled to her side and played with her hair. "Kol has laid something of a claim on Amsterdam, 'a city after his own heart' as he says. I'm more concerned how he managed to get ahold of this piece of paper." He picked at the edges of the frayed note. "It's like he knows more about you at this age than I do."

Sliding her leg over him, Caroline moved herself to sit on his lap. "You know me better than anyone anymore," she whispered. "Thirty years together, I shouldn't have to tell you this." She leaned down to press kisses along his cheek. "But if it makes you feel better, I'll write you a list of all the things you don't know about the Caroline Forbes you never met."

Klaus gave her an adoring look, grasping her face gently between his hands. "I want to know it all."

Somewhere deep inside, Caroline wanted to high five her thirteen-year-old self for finding everything she didn't even know she wanted in Klaus. She did pretty damn well for herself.


End file.
